TRAIN drivers’ union Aslef has become the first trade union to declare its support for Neil Findlay in the Scottish Labour leadership race.

General secretary Mick Whelan said yesterday that the Lothian MSP “understands what Labour has to do to win back the hearts, the minds, and the votes of working men and women in Scotland.”

Mr Findlay is seen as the left candidate for leadership, although he said yesterday references to his socialist credentials in the media are “beginning to sound like the question of senator McCarthy times.”

Scottish Labour’s Campaign for Socialism issued an urgent call for members to lobby union leaders and parliamentarians to support Mr Findlay.

Unite Scotland secretary Pat Rafferty endorsed Mr Findlay in a personal capacity earlier this week, saying his “democratic socialist credentials are without question.”